Kolar
More actions
| Kolar | |
|---|---|
| Chikballapur; Chintamani | |
| ActiveRecorded as grown here since 2000 | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Gene Pool | South Asian Gene Pool |
| Geography | |
| Country | India |
| Province/State | Karnataka |
| Districts | Kolar District, Chikkaballapur District |
| Coordinates | 13.37, 78.02 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 8,200 km² |
| Terrain | Approximately Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts, on the plateau north-east of Bengaluru |
| Growing history | |
| Earlier names | Kolar district, Mysore; Chickballapur taluk; Chintamony taluk |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 1 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Kolar is a landrace cannabis growing area in Karnataka, India, mapped on Kolar District and Chikkaballapur District, the second of which was carved out of the first.[1] In 1893 the excise officers of the princely state of Mysore reported that ganja had been grown in the Chickballapur and Chintamani taluks of the Kolar district; their Excise Commissioner said that otherwise almost none was grown in the state.[2][3][4]: 49 Since 2018 the press has reported cannabis grown on farmland and beside houses in both districts.
History
Buchanan, 1800
Francis Buchanan travelled through the country north of Bangalore in July 1800, on a survey of agriculture in the dominions of the Rajah of Mysore. At Madhugiri he described the cultivated lands of the country "from Nandi to Penu-conda, and from Chica Bala-pura to Madhu-giri", and among the crops of its kitchen gardens he listed "hemp, which is only used to intoxicate".[5]: 1, 364, 383
The Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–1894
In Mysore the cultivation of hemp was forbidden except under a licence from the Deputy Commissioner of the district. L. Ricketts, the state's Excise Commissioner, told the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission in 1893 that apart from three or four small plots, where the licensed growers had failed from inexperience, no one had tried to grow it, and that the ganja consumed in the state was imported from the Madras Presidency.[2]
J. G. McDonnell, the state's Special Assistant Excise Commissioner, wrote in a separate memorandum that "Some first class ganja was raised 15 years ago and later in Chickballapur taluk of the Kolar district", and put the success down to a cultivator who knew when to sow and how to pick and cure the flowering tops. A trial at Dodballapur, in the Bangalore district, had failed. McDonnell described how the crop was raised in the state: in manured pits, the stems supported by staves and twisted at the root to stunt the growth, with a dark-stemmed and a light-stemmed variety, the dark one the stronger.[3]
A. Krishnasamy Iyengar, the Sub-divisional Officer at Chickballapur, told the Commission that in his district ganja and bhang were prepared only to a very small extent, most of the drug consumed being imported from Cocanada, and that "The local cultivation and preparation of ganja are at present confined to the Chintamony taluk". He added that the drug was consumed largely in the Chickballapur, Kolar and Bowringpet taluks.[4]: 49 The Commission quoted him in its report, and concluded that across Mysore the cultivation was "inconsiderable, and the local production quite insignificant".[6]
Since 2000
In September 2018 the Deccan Herald wrote that ganja cultivation "was seen as common along the border villages of Kolar and Chintamani", from where peddlers brought it into Bengaluru.[7] In 2020 Bengaluru police arrested two small farmers from Kolar and Chikkaballapur who, according to the police, harvested ganja plants grown in and around Ujjani, Kolar and Chikkaballapur at night and sold the dried crop in the city.[8]
The cases reported since include:
- In August 2023 the Kencharlahalli police found five plants in the compound of a house at Murugamalla in Chintamani taluk, grown, the police said, for sale.[9]
- In November 2023 the Kolar district police arrested three labourers from Odisha who had grown plants on a poultry farm at Dasepalli in Mulbagal taluk.[10]
- In April 2026 the Srinivasapura police seized cannabis plants grown on farmland near the Srinivasapura–Yaldur road.[11]
- In June 2026 the Excise Department seized 22 plants, five to seven feet tall, grown behind a house at Hodalavadi in Kolar taluk.[12]
Accessions
| Accession ID | Name | Collected | Locality |
|---|---|---|---|
| COC-IND-KAR-0100000004 | Western Karnataka (Kolar) General Population |
Recent news
No news items are recorded for this growing area yet.
See also
References
- ↑ District Administration, Chikkaballapur. "About District". Chikkaballapur District, Government of Karnataka. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Memorandum on ganja in Mysore, by Mr. L. Ricketts, Excise Commissioner". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. III: Appendices, Miscellaneous. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. p. 135 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Memorandum regarding ganja and its preparations in Mysore, by Mr. J. G. McDonnell, Special Assistant Excise Commissioner in Mysore". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. III: Appendices, Miscellaneous. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. p. 147 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1895). Supplementary Volume: Evidence of Witnesses from Native States. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India – via Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics.
- ↑ Buchanan, Francis (1807). A Journey from Madras through the Countries of Mysore, Canara, and Malabar. Vol. I. London: T. Cadell and W. Davies; Black, Parry, and Kingsbury – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. I: Report. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. ch. IV, "Extent of cultivation, and its tendency to increase or decrease", para. 139, p. 54 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Kaggere, Niranjan (1 September 2018). "Excise sleuths bust ganja cultivation in Bengaluru". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Swamy, H. M. Chaithanya (28 September 2020). "Ganja plants grown on Ujjani hillock seized in RT Nagar". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ "ಚಿಂತಾಮಣಿ: ಮನೆ ಕಾಂಪೌಂಡ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಗಾಂಜಾ ಗಿಡ ಪತ್ತೆ, ಬಂಧನ" [Chintamani: ganja plants found in a house compound, arrest]. Prajavani (in ಕನ್ನಡ). 17 August 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ The Hindu Bureau (25 November 2023). "Three from Odisha arrested in Kolar on the charge of cultivating ganja plants at poultry farm". The Hindu. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ "ಗಾಂಜಾ ಬೆಳೆ: ಪೊಲೀಸರ ದಾಳಿ" [Ganja crop: police raid]. Prajavani (in ಕನ್ನಡ). 15 April 2026. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ "ಕೋಲಾರದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಕ್ರಮ ಗಾಂಜಾ ಗಿಡ ಬೆಳೆದಿದ್ದ ಆರೋಪಿ ಸೆರೆ" [Accused who grew illegal ganja plants in Kolar arrested]. Prajavani (in ಕನ್ನಡ). 25 June 2026. Retrieved 20 October 2026.